is there a change in turbotax this year as to how to enter rental expenses when the rental is a part of your own personal home?

[dborowsk]

Hi, I live in a two family, three story home.  We rent out the first floor (1/3 of the house).  I’m entering expenses in the rental section in Turbotax online. Last year when I entered my mortgage interest and real estate taxes, turbotax calculated the percentage of those expenses that apply to the rental (1/3) … but it doesn't seem to be doing it this year.  Is this a change in the software?  Do I need to calculate this myself this year? Will it calculate it later? Or am I doing something wrong? 

[DianeW777]

It depends.  You may have missed an answer to a question, or missed the question, about the percentage of rental use in the Property Info section. You have the option of calculating and entering the correct expense for each item.  I would advise you to enter the correct percentage of expenses manually. It will not calculate it later. 

Also, check the home asset to be sure it is being depreciated at only the business use percentage (1/3 per your information) or that you used only the business percentage of the original cost basis of the home.

Please update here if you have more questions and we can help.

[dborowsk]

Thanks for your response!  I thought maybe i missed a question re percentage of prop as rental as well... but i have gona back to try to find it and cant seem to find it.  Though i think TT asks me a about personal property later so maybe that question is yet to come.   Regardless, since i have been using turbotax for several years i thought in prev years it brought forward these details from my previous return? 

Regardless, if you think i to calculate the 1/3 myself ill do that —i was just worried it would later take 1/3 of that!  

[PatriciaV]

The questions about renting part of your home begin in the Property Profile section of your rental property.

Look for the page "Do any of these situations apply to this property?" and check the box for "I rent out part of my home."

Continue to the page "Let us calculate your expense deductions for you" and check "Yes" to let TurboTax do the math. Here you enter the percentage that was rented. 

Now when you enter your Rental Expenses, use the full amount so TurboTax enters only the rental allocation.

If you would rather do your own math, check "No" for the calculation question. Then enter only the rental portion for Rental Expenses.

We have observed that these settings may not transfer from one tax year to the next.

 @dborowsk